1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to a device for treating obstructive sleep apnea, and more specifically, to a garment employed for treating obstructive sleep apnea.
2. Description of Related Art
Numerous garments have been proposed for treating obstructive sleep apnea. It should be noted that obstructive sleep apnea can be either positional or non-positional. Positional sleep apnea manifests itself when an individual is sleeping in a supine position. Although non-positional sleep apnea tends to manifest itself in all body positions, it still tends to be most severe when the individual is in a supine position. Also, as is well known, the effective treatment of sleep apnea often tends to reduce or minimize snoring.
A number of prior art garments for dealing with sleep apnea employ a pad, ball, or other member extending outwardly from the patient's back, generally in the center region thereof. If a person with sleep apnea rolls onto his/her back while sleeping, a position which may cause the partial or complete closure of the individual's airway, the raised member will provide the desired degree of discomfort either to wake up the individual or to force the individual back into a prone or lateral position, i.e., a position facing downward or on his/her side. Representative garments that provide the above-stated function are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 876,491; 898,379; 2,304,235; 3,485,241; 5,357,981 and 6,357,444. In addition to the above enumerated patents, there are several other patents that disclose similar features. However, these prior art devices are not well designed to assist in maintaining a person in a lateral position while sleeping.
Another approach to deal with the problem of obstructive sleep apnea, and in particular to aid in preventing a person from sleeping in a supine position, is to provide a garment with spaced-apart abutments, each being designed to maintain an individual on a respective lateral side while sleeping. However, it is believed that if a sleeping individual does roll onto his back (i.e., into a supine position) this latter garment may not create sufficient discomfort to either wake up the individual or cause the individual to roll back into either a prone or lateral position. A representative device employing space-apart abutments is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,926,008.
Applicant believes that an improved garment for treating sleep apnea is needed, which is relatively simple in construction, and has the capability of both assisting in initially maintaining an individual in a comfortable, prone or lateral position while sleeping, and also creating a sufficient degree of discomfort when the individual moves into a supine position, to either wake the individual up or force the individual to move back into a prone or lateral position. It is to such a simplified device that the present invention relates
All references cited herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.